Kızıldere Incident

The Kızıldere Incident refers to a political armed conflict in the village of Kızıldere in Tokat, Turkey, which culminated on 29 May 1972 in the deaths of nine Turkish leftist guerrillas belonging to the People's Liberation Party-Front of Turkey (THKP-C), along with three foreign hostages.

The events leading to the incident stemmed from a lawsuit seeking the execution of THKP-C guerrillas Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan, and Hüseyin İnan. In an effort to prevent these executions, guerrilla leader Mahir Çayan and associates kidnapped and killed Israeli ambassador Ephraim Elrom. Following Elrom's death, Turkish authorities captured Çayan in a gunfight and imprisoned him at Maltepe military prison. On 29 November 1971, Çayan escaped Maltepe by tunnel along with fellow THKP-C members Ulaş Bardakçı and Ziya Yılmaz, and THKO members Cihan Alptekin and Ömer Ayna.

After the escape, on 26 May 1972, Çayan and his associates kidnapped two English technicians and one Canadian technician from the Ünye Radar Station in Ordu, seeking to force the halt of the pending executions. A memorandum demanding this was left in the technicians' combination safe. Turkish authorities, acting on information from a local mukhtar named Hasan Yılmaz, traced the group to Kızıldere.

On 29 May 1972, Turkish commando forces besieged the house in Kızıldere where the guerrillas were hiding with their hostages. The guerrillas refused to surrender and threatened to kill the hostages. When commando forces expressed disbelief that hostages were present, the guerrillas displayed them at a window. A gunfight then broke out, during which Çayan was killed and the hostages were shot by the remaining guerrillas. As the confrontation continued, all guerrillas were killed except Ertuğrul Kürkçü, who survived by hiding in the hayloft and was arrested the following day during a search of the property.

The Kızıldere Incident is regarded as one of the most significant events preceding the period of intensified political violence in Turkey from 1976 to 1980. It influenced subsequent guerrilla actions and government responses, occurring alongside other events such as the 1969 Bloody Sunday clashes, bombings, robberies, and kidnappings. The government's response, including its stance related to militant activity from right-wing groups, is described as contributing to conditions that led to the Turkish coup d'état of 1980.

This summary is based on a single Wikipedia article; a corroborating reference from researchgate.net was noted in the article's citations but its content could not be independently verified from the provided text. <parameter name="timeline">[ {"date": "1971-11-29", "event": "Mahir Çayan, Ulaş Bardakçı, Ziya Yılmaz, Cihan Alptekin, and Ömer Ayna escape Maltepe military prison by digging a tunnel."}, {"date": "1972-03-26", "event": "The Kızıldere Incident, a political armed conflict in Kızıldere village, Tokat, is dated to this day per the case title."}, {"date": "1972-05-26", "event": "Çayan and associates kidnap two English technicians and one Canadian technician from the Ünye Radar Station in Ordu."}, {"date": "1972-05-29", "event": "Turkish commando forces besiege the house in Kızıldere; a gunfight breaks out, killing Çayan, the three hostages, and other guerrillas; Ertuğrul Kürkçü survives by hiding."}, {"date": "1972-05-30", "event": "Ertuğrul Kürkçü is arrested during the search of the house by commando forces."} ]